Saudi Arabia to build mega ‘entertainment city’

Saudi Arabia has announced that it will build a “entertainment city”, a mega cultural, sports and entertainment project in Riyadh that will include a safari area and a Six Flags theme park.
The unnamed project, to be built in Al Qidiya, southwest of Riyadh, will cover an area of 334 square kilometres.
While the cost of the project was not revealed, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the development will be funded primarily by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, as well as local and international investors, which he said supports the kingdom’s position as an important international centre in attracting foreign investments.
Work on the project is expected to start in early 2018, with the first phase due to be completed by 2022.
“The city is planned to become a prominent cultural landmark and an important centre for meeting the future generation’s recreational, cultural and social needs in the country,” Prince Mohammed said.
The “pioneering and most ambitious project” comes within the framework of plans to support the Saudi vision 2030 by creating quality and distinctive investments within the kingdom. The country recently held a film festival and Comic Con exhibition.
In June 2016, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed exempted Saudi Arabia from a GCC theme park deal with US theme park operator Six Flags.